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612-8~5-~160 HOISINGTON KOEGLER 585 PO1 JAN 88 '96 i6:2@ ISTE. A. Transportation Enhancement - Elk River Interpretive Walk January 16, 1~96 Page 3 Project Context During early European settlement, several forces of transportation converged at a bend in the Mississippi River to create the beginnings of a village called Elk River. The earliest Europeans to arrive ia the Midwest were trappers and fur traders. This became an important economy prior to Minnesota statehood and continued to be until the latter part of the 19th Century. Furs were trapped in abundance ia the Red River Valley, primarily by the Hudson Bay Company, and brought to market in Mendota and later St. Paul. The route taken between these two points was an ox cart path known as the Red River Trail used as early as the 1840s. The trail followed the Mississippi River and passed through Elk River. There, several businesses established themselves to support the traders. In 1860 alone, 1400 carts passed along the trail. By 1858 a new military road was constructed to provide access to the Minnesota Territory hinterlands where forts were to be constructed including Fort Ripley. The road followed the ox cart trail and the Elk River House, an early hotel, was a designated stopping place along the route. The Mississippi was obviously an important transportation route in the early years. By 1851 Steamship traffic was common on the upper Mississippi carrying dry goods, hardware and furniture as far as St, Cloud and Elk River became a regular docking place for the steamers. There was also a ferry established in I856 to cross the Mississippi at Elk River. Ferry service was short lived but provided an important crossing before the first bridge wa.q constructed in 1906. Perhaps the most significant transport which shaped the community of Elk River and much of Minnesota was logging. Log boorrkq were prevalent from the 1840s to the turn of the Century on the Mississippi from its upper reach to St. Anthony (now Minneapolis). Virgin timber was cut in the pine forests of the upper Mississippi and floated to mills downriver. Elk River had its own sawmill which drove much of the early development of the community. "Teamsters serving the pinery camps brought business to Sherburne County taverns and many of the pioneers of the county were able to earn a cash income by working in the woods during the winter season.''m By 1856, Elk River boasted a lumber mill, ferry service, a school, two general stores, the Elk River House and a door & sash factory? all driven by the development and use of the various routes of transport through the community which converged at the downtown riverfront. Today, Elk River's downtown riverfi-ont plays little importance in the everyday life of the community. Main Street buildings back up to the river and parking lots consume the landscape. Them are few remaining clues that this place was once the stopping point of travelers, the driving force of the economy and the heart of community life. The community would like to change that. Last year the Elk River City Council adopted a concept plm~ for the Riverfront Pathway project, an important component of which is the Elk River Interpretive Walk depicting the early transportation history of the region. (1) History of.?joneer Lumbering. on the Up.r~r Mississippi and It~ Tributaries, Daniel Stanchtield, St. Paul, 1901: Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society. (2) Historical Sketch; Sherbume County Historical Society.